An Incomprehensible Love
by Paradise2000
Summary: After the defeat of Bakura, Seto and the Sacred Guardians start to rebuild the country, but when a new danger arises, will the pieces come together or fall apart? And when two people struggling to find themselves are brought together by a preordained twist of fate, their lives are changed forever. Will contain Seto x Kisara.


**An Incomprehensible Love**

Chapters: For those of you who decide to sit and read all of this, I will be immensely grateful for your time. It will be the first long story I have written, so please be prepared to wait in between for updates.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything belonging to the series. It is all the property of the amazing Kazuki Takahashi, who originally published it as a long-running manga series.

**A\N (Author's Notes):** Please, after reading this, read the author's notes at the bottom of the page, they will help to understand this story a bit better. Certain numbers (**1, 2, 3**, etc) next to some chunks of text are also listed in the author's notes for explanation, in bold.

Sort: Adventure\Drama.

Chapter One:

Life went on through cruel circumstances and through joyful times, through people being happy and just enjoying it, and through grief and rage, and bitterness and hate. Joy and grief seemed to be the two things which could shape your future and cause any sort of event. Ishizu Ishtar knew this only too well, she had the capacity to understand what these events could cause, and she had suffered more than most.

Ishizu knew what it was to suffer. To blame yourself, and to wonder why this happened to you, to your brother. She had always known that it was important to keep the ones you loved safe. She had always tried to protect Marik from the outside world, from danger. In some places she had failed, in others she had prevented him from an unimaginable fate. Eventually, she had succeeded in rescuing her brother from the devastating, all-consuming darkness created by his own bitterness and anger, and yet she still felt so lost.

She had always had a more clear perspective of the world than other people, a strange, almost penetrating view on life. For the reassurance of herself, she knew that unlike other people would be, she was not bumptious and arrogant because of her ability. Ishizu viewed it as a somewhat superfluous part of her, that both made things easier for her and troubled her, and yet she was not sure she wanted to be without it.

Ishizu walked around her home aimlessly, still in her full attire of swirling linen dress and veil, as well as her gold headwear and jewellery. Even her gold sandals were still on. She could not relax, and she felt strangely troubled. Trying to disperse her anxiety, she walked into the living room of the estate flat she shared with Marik and Odion. The walls were a whitish cream, the carpet, sofa and chairs a similar colour. On one side of the room there was a bookshelf, which was home to books, Egyptian statuettes, CDs and various memorabilia which she had collected in her research for the display of the ancient carving depicting the Pharaoh, such as newspaper articles, posters and VHS tapes, all of which gave an air of mystery to the room. **(1)**

Ishizu took a VHS tape which was labelled 'Pegasus' Duel Monsters', took it out of the case and put it into the VHS player. The screen retained its fuzzy look for a second, before the tape began to play. The location was somewhere in an urban background in America, and the quality was good. The reporter, a man with brown eyes and brown hair, said cheerfully, "And here we are, in America, with millionaire Maximillion Pegasus, who is celebrating the release of his new game, Duel Monsters! Mr Pegasus, we'd love to know, where did you get your inspiration?"

"I got my inspiration from Ancient Egypt," Pegasus answered smugly. "I went to Egypt on a long journey, into the heart of history, inside the tombs. It was in one such tomb that I found Ancient Egyptian carvings of three monsters, the Three God Cards, Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon and the Winged Dragon of Ra, all used in ancient duels, where battles would be fought using monsters on stone slabs. I adapted this culture and developed it into my card game, Duel Monsters, where it can now be enjoyed as a pastime by avid gamers!"

"And when can we expect this game to be out?" the reporter asked.

"The game will be out within the month," Pegasus replied. "Thank you, Mr Pegasus," the reporter said pleasantly. "That's all from me, everyone! Thank you for your time, Mr Pegasus! I'm sure your game will be very successful!"

The tape ended, and the screen once more was covered in a myriad of black and white dots.

Ishizu remained sat on the sofa, her worries unalleviated. She could sense nothing wrong, but there was something that was bothering her. Why was she doing this? _There's no point of dredging back up the past. _Trying to remember what she had been part of, what she had done to protect the world from Marik's dark side. She had set all these events in motion, and as she had planned, everything had gone well enough until Battle City, where she had been forced to leave things in the Pharaoh's hands. It should have satisfied her to know that she had done what she could to help Marik, yet she felt that she should have been able to do more. Ishizu rebuked herself for that thought. She was not thinking realistically. Indeed, she would have done anything to save the other people who had duelled in the Battle City final, many of them who had fallen to her brother's dark side. Then again, she had watched the Pharaoh battle Yami Marik, as she had predicted. She could not have helped; she knew the duel would decide the fate of the world. It was useless to interfere with destiny, especially when there was so much at risk.

She went to her room and looked around; a bed, a table next to it with a lamp, a desk and chair with her possessions strewn on it, a chest of drawers with a few more of her things on it, and a wardrobe. Ishizu walked over to the wardrobe, musing on what she was looking for inside it, and opened the door. She knelt down, where her shoes were kept, brushing a few of them to one side, lifting up the dangling ends of clothes which were obscuring her vision, and felt triumph as she found what she was looking for.

Ishizu took out a small box made of dark wood, decorated with intricate, beautiful designs. She opened the lid, and smiled softly, knowing it had been a long time since she had looked in here. Inside was a mixed arrangement of things, including a Polaroid photo of herself and Marik, just before he had been made the Tomb Keeper, a blue necklace that had been their mother's, some of Marik's old toys and a book of his, a battered copy of Treasure Island. There were also some more newspaper clippings from Ishizu's research for the exhibition of the carving depicting the Pharaoh…...and Ishizu's old Duel Monsters cards. Ishizu's face grew sad, and she gently reached for the cards, fingering the edges, dog-eared and worn through use.

The misery from her childhood came back again, and she could remember the pain she and her brothers had had to experience. Ishizu's and Odion's pain at seeing Marik suffer, and Marik's pain at being condemned to a life underground with a duty as the Tomb Keeper. His agony of never being able to go up to the surface and live the wonders that an unrestricted life should have to offer. Instead, he had been forced to take on the duty like all his family before him by his father, who had only cared for Marik because he was the true heir to the clan. Ishizu blamed herself, and she felt guilt washing over her. Deciding it was best to put her feelings aside, she put the cards back into the box, closed the wardrobe door and went outside.

Their flat was only one floor from the ground, so it made it easy for Ishizu to get outside. Instead of choosing the stairs on the inside, she went through a side door and down a steel staircase, coming out on the tarmac path outside their home. The appearance of the other flats surrounding theirs provided a grim outlook, and rain was pouring down heavily.

Ishizu's fixated mood still remained, and her thought changed from one childhood flashback to the other in a steady motion. Although she did not know why, she was still clutching the box in her left hand. Ishizu looked out into the rain. Rain could cleanse many things.

They had always liked to watch it when they were children, Marik especially. Steady droplets pouring down, cleansing everything apart from damaged souls. The souls of those that had suffered and could not alleviate themselves from the unhappiness.

She bowed her head, and as heavy rain fell down all around her, she said, "My misery is something I cannot rid myself of, something that plagues me. All of my life I have cared about Marik greatly, and I knew he was bound to a task which he would have to do for the rest of his life. I only wanted him to be happy, to have one day of freedom on the surface, with other people, where he could enjoy it, for him to have one memory that was not filled with training to do a duty he would have to shoulder for his life, and in doing so, I nearly destroyed him. Marik released his darker side and led himself and the entire world into great danger. It seems like all of this is my fault. In a way, I am the perpetrator."

The rain continued to fall, and Ishizu stood there, her misery overwhelming her. She felt as if she had been responsible for the peril in Marik's life, and whatever happiness was to be offered on the surface seemed unattainable. Suddenly, an indescribably bright light came down, landing on her, and blinding her. Ishizu did not even have time to shield her eyes or to wonder what it was, before it seemed to consume her, and she vanished from the spot. Left behind was the home that had been the place of Ishizu's distress and at the same time where she had moved with her brothers so they could be happy.

**A\N:**

**(1) **It seemed logical for me to take a little liberty, considering Ishizu Ishtar is the Museum Curator, that she would have records and data and the like, on the research done for the carving of the Pharaoh duelling Priest Seto and past media events.

By the way, drop me a line and see what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome, I need to improve my stories a lot yet.


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